The present disclosure relates generally to computational solution algorithms (and associated systems and methods) applied to a stochastic unit commitment problem. In one example, the computational solution algorithms (and associated systems and methods) may be applied to the energy industry.
The unit commitment problem lies at the heart of the future smart grid. Independent system operators and utilities aim to solve various forms of the unit commitment problem that handle such contemporary concepts as renewable generation, energy storage, power purchase agreements, future power markets, demand response, load shifting, etc. These concepts induce various forms of uncertainty into the problem. Embodiments of the invention use a multistage stochastic programming framework to incorporate these uncertainties into the unit commitment problem, and present a system of approaches to solve the resulting large scale nonlinear stochastic unit commitment problem. In one specific example, a new parallel decomposition algorithm to solve the stochastic unit commitment problem using a branch-cut-price framework is provided.